Glimpses of Blankney - Christmas 1884

It was Christmas Eve 1884. London's Liverpool Street Station was heaving with people. Such was the mayhem among the frenzied passengers boarding the Great Eastern Railway steam train that railway staff told them, 'to get on anywhere they could.' Eventually, the train slowly steamed out of the station setting off on its long journey north. Among the passengers were two men, one a mystery man, who's name is not known, and his travelling companion to whom he refers to as 'Young Dinks.' Their destination was Lincolnshire and more precisely Blankney Hall. They had been invited to spend Christmas at Blankney by Henry Chaplin. Quite who the two guests were or why they were invited to Blankney is not disclosed but the following is an account of their visit related by the man who's identity remains a mystery. His account paints brief but fascinating glimpses of life in and around Blankney Hall towards the end of the Victorian era.
"Henry Chaplin's tenants after paying their rents, sat down in the oak dining room of the Hall. They were a happy convivial body of men. Henry Chaplin could not be present and his place was filled by his Agent Mr. G. Wharton Marriott. A veritable feast was laid out, including champagne, grouse and pineapples. The Hall looked magnificent with its high Wainscoting, its family portraits and its great picture of Hermit, lit up with wax tapers and redolent with the scent of hothouse blossoms. And when the port and claret began to flow, men's tongues were unloosed. Mr. Marriott speechified followed in turn by the Rector and Mr. Howard (Mr. Chaplin's other Agent). Mr. Knott (who had recently fallen into a ditch) was to the fore, and hoped to meet everyone in heaven. Mr. Allen, the teetotaller, (but none the worse for that) made a manly address and the company drank the Squire's health with three times three, and allowed that despite bad times, there can be good landlords and good tenants.
The services at Blankney church were popular with parishioners crammed in on Sunday morning. The drilling of the choir reflects great credit on the clerical stage management. A stirring sermon was given by the Rector. After lunch a tour was made of the neat stable yards, including a visit to two Derby winners under one roof. We then crossed the park to the New Paddocks situated on top of the hill beyond the Rectory. We were taken round by Mr. Gilbert, a genial and portly man, to who's wonderful knack of rearing youngsters, not a little of the success of the Blankney yearlings is due."
In the same account our mystery man describes the new Blankney Rectory, which at some point he must have visited during his stay. (The Rectory had been built in 1880 and was the home of the Rev. J. O. Stephens). He describes it as follows:
"Not too roomy, but just enough, and by the quaint comeliness of its internal decorations and furniture proving that the Rector must be a man of infinite taste and much antiquarian research. There are massive open fireplaces of the good old fashioned type, with great recesses and cosy seats by the chimney corner; there are fine art-hangings and curious cabinets, and there is bric-a- brac of all sorts scattered in an unpretentious way throughout various sitting rooms, of which the hall is by no means the least comfortable. Blankney Rectory is eminently a rectory of rectories and with all modern improvements, has an old world savour about it not often to be met with in this age of brummagem and sham."